One day, you’re just a young lad picking up your first kitchen knife, learning to sew gloves with blades on them or masks made out of human flesh, maybe drowning in your favorite camp’s lake. The next thing you know, years have gone past. You’ve stabbed, chopped and otherwise mutilated so many horny teenagers that the act itself has lost all meaning. You almost start to look forward to being doused with gasoline and set ablaze, just to break the monotony. [Read on here...]

But even if the chainsaw’s getting rusty and the bloom has gone off the blood-spatter, there’s always one place you can go to relive your glory days. Yes, those old home movies of yesteryear, capturing you in your prime, back when slaughtering a bunch of innocent people really meant something. And remember all your old friends who helped shoot those movies? There was little Johnny Carpenter, Wes “The Mess” Craven, and that weird kid Tobe from Texas. Good times with good pals.

I’ve got a surprise for you. A lot of those old Super 8, 16mm and 35mm Panavision home movies have been transferred to Blu-ray! I know, crazy, right? What do you say we take a stroll down memory lane and check some of them out, huh? I brought popcorn and candy corn… and Kleenex in case it gets a little emotional. Don’t worry, it’s all right to cry.

On January 2, 2014, Mike Vraney died of lung cancer at the obscenely young age of 56. Mike’s name may not ring a bell but if you’re a fan of cult movies, exploitation flicks and bizarre ephemera like stag films and burlesque shows, you owe Mike a huge debt of thanks. In 1990, Mike founded Something Weird Video, one of the first and best labels dedicated to rescuing forgotten films from the dustbin of obscurity. Something Weird was a trailblazer in the industry. I’d argue that Mike’s passion for these movies and the success of Something Weird helped pave the way for all the cult boutique labels to follow, including Mondo Macabro, Synapse, Blue Underground and so many others. [Read on here…]

In the early 90s, I was working in a video store in Bozeman, Montana. The store stocked one or two Something Weird titles and once I became manager and the store buyer, I made sure to put some of my meager VHS budget aside each month to get a few more. They didn’t necessarily show a lot of return on the investment but they certainly helped enhance our reputation as the video store with titles that nobody else in town had. It was probably the first job I ever liked. I remember poring over Something Weird’s mail-order catalog, circling potential titles and marveling at the fact that somebody was paying me to do so.

In some ways, VHS was kind of the perfect format for Something Weird but they made the transition to DVD beautifully. The company signed a distribution deal with Image Entertainment, giving the films of Herschell Gordon Lewis (whose 1967 movie Something Weird gave the company both its name and its logo), Doris Wishman, Andy Milligan and many others a higher profile than they’d ever enjoyed before. I remember a giddy thrill seeing an entire section devoted to Something Weird in Virgin Records during the height of the DVD boom.

More recently, they’ve expanded into Blu-ray, releasing such titles as Frank Henenlotter’s BasketCase, Lewis’ Blood Trilogy and The Wizard of Gore and The Gore Gore Girls, and the films of Chesty Morgan. In my wildest dreams, I never thought we’d see these movies released in high-def but here they are, thanks to the perseverance and passion of Something Weird.

The movies that Something Weird releases are, by and large, not masterpieces of world cinema. But they are significant and vitally important to fans who want a more complete idea of where the movies have been. They’re rough, crude, independent movies made by some of the most idiosyncratic people ever to pick up a camera. Something Weird proves the old adage that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Even if you’re never compelled to watch movies like The Body Beneath or Wham Bam Thank You Spaceman, you should know they exist and are out there (in every sense of the phrase) should you change your mind.

Something Weird Video soldiers on from its home base of Seattle, with its own streaming channel and hopefully many more DVD and Blu-ray releases to come. But we have Mike Vraney to thank for his boundless enthusiasm and sheer love of cult cinema for making the home entertainment industry a more interesting place. On behalf of movie lovers everywhere, thank you, Mike, and rest in peace. May the next leg of your journey bring you something even weirder.

About a month ago, I received an anonymous package. Well, anonymous except for The Digital Bits logo in the return address and a single word scrawled across the side: “GLUTTONY”.

“What’s in the box?” I yelled out loud to nobody in particular. I opened it and was horrified by its contents. It was full of DVDs and Blu-rays, all horror movies. Oh, and Gwyneth Paltrow’s severed head, which I thought was kind of odd. [...]

Despite the fact that I’m just a week away from retirement, I’ve been watching those discs, searching them for clues that might lead me to the sender. I haven’t turned anything up yet but I’ll be reporting on what I find throughout the month of October. These aren’t reviews. They’re police reports. And believe me, this isn’t going to have a happy ending. I’m calling this case…

As The Bits’ resident champion for the release of obscure and forgotten films on DVD, I naturally pay a lot of attention to smaller, independent labels like Shout! Factory, Olive Films, Kino, Synapse and, of course, Criterion. These companies and many others like them are doing important work, taking on projects that the major studios are no longer interested in producing. I support these companies both by writing about their work on this site and, more importantly, by purchasing their products as often as I can. [...]

Twilight Time is exactly the kind of boutique label that I should be excited about. Since its founding in 2011, the company has released a treasure trove of titles on Blu-ray, many of which would not have received this kind of attention otherwise. However, the company has also been the center of controversy among film fans, due primarily to their strict policy of releasing limited editions of 3,000 units, high price and the occasional title that sells out almost immediately. Depending on who you talk to, Twilight Time is either the best or worst thing to happen to Blu-ray since the format’s inception.

Some of these issues are out of Twilight Time’s control. Their licensing deal with the studios restricts them to 3,000 units. The number of titles that have sold out and gone out of print is relatively low and there’s no way of predicting how quickly that will happen. And the sad truth is that if Twilight Time releases a title, that’s because the studio that owns it has no intention of producing a Blu-ray themselves. Virtually all of the studios have lost interest in upgrading their catalog titles to Blu-ray. The format has simply not proven itself to be the cash cow that DVD was in its prime.

However, Twilight Time has effectively created a catch-22 for the Blu-ray industry. If a title doesn’t sell out, the studios take that as proof that there isn’t an audience for it. If you can’t even sell 3,000 copies of an Oscar-winning movie like As Good As It Gets or Philadelphia, why should you continue to invest in this format?

But take a look at the titles that have sold out: Fright Night, Night Of The Living Dead, Christine. These are genre movies and cult favorites. The primary audience for these titles is tech savvy. They’re used to seeking out exclusives and they’re willing to pay a little bit extra to get something they really want. They know Twilight Time exists and they know where they have to go to find their products.

But titles like Sleepless In Seattle and Steel Magnolias are mainstream movies. The primary audience for stuff like this doesn’t shop online very often and when they do, they don’t usually venture too far beyond Amazon. They buy movies at Target and Costco. The people who would buy these movies on Blu-ray don’t even realize they’ve been released. If they do decide to check Amazon for As Good As It Gets on Blu-ray, they’ll find it but it’s being sold by a secondary seller at an even more inflated price and that one’s not even out of print yet. Are there 3,000 people out there who would buy Sleepless In Seattle on Blu-ray? Of course there is. But they aren’t going to go out of their way to do it and they aren’t going to pay $30 or more for the privilege.

Of course, frustration over Twilight Time’s policies and pricing would be a lot less if they put a little more effort into the discs themselves. This isn’t an A/V quality issue. Every disc I’ve seen from them has offered a superior presentation of the film itself. But Twilight Time is the first company I’ve seen that seems singularly uninterested in producing extra features. Apart from new booklets and isolated music scores, the company rarely offers up anything new for your buck. Some discs, like Philadelphia, actually provide less content than the previously released DVDs. Traditionally, a “limited edition” suggests that you’re getting something special for the extra money. With Twilight Time, that something special seems to be the mere fact that the movie is on Blu-ray at all. These days, that really isn’t enough.

When Twilight Time first started, I felt they had potential to be a real contender. They were releasing some highly sought-after titles that had never been released on DVD before like The Egyptian and The Flim-Flam Man. I feel they’ve strayed from their original mission. Rather than resurrecting forgotten films from the past, they’re now simply taking advantage of studio indifference toward their own libraries. I think it’s a shame that Sony doesn’t see any profit in releasing Body Double on Blu-ray themselves. Since they don’t want it, am I glad that someone else is? Sure. But do I think that someone else like Shout! Factory could do a better job with it than Twilight Time? Probably.

Physical media needs all the help it can get these days, so believe it or not, I’m actually rooting for Twilight Time and I’d like to see them succeed. But as long as they’re offering premium priced limited editions, they need to refocus on unreleased gems and cult favorites like Hard Times and The Driver, not mainstream hits like The Way We Were (which is due out in November). Restricting the release of huge titles like that is bad for movie fans and bad for the Blu-ray industry. They also need to step up their game when it comes to extra content and take steps to curb speculator buying and resale of their discs. With a few tweaks, Twilight Time could be a movie lover’s best friend. But if they continue with business as usual, their name could turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy for catalog titles on Blu-ray.

Six years ago, I was standing at a crossroads with my trusty blues guitar when a stranger came up to me. “Nice guitar,” said the stranger in a seductive purr. “You play?”

“Not a lick,” said I. “But I heard tell that a fella needs himself a guitar in these parts.”

“True enough,” replied the stranger. “True enough. But it ain’t doin’ you much good strung across your back like that. Instrument like that ought be played.”

“Reckon you’re right but who’s gonna teach me? You?”

The stranger just chuckled low and said, “Nah, I ain’t much for teachin’. Tell you what I can do, though. How’d you like to play that thing like a dream without so much as a single lesson?”

“I’d like that right smart. But how do you figure to make that work?”

The stranger took my hands in his and suddenly his eyes took on a reddish glow. My hands felt hot, like I’d stuck them into the belly of a stove. I tried to yank them back but the stranger held tight.

After a minute, he released me and stepped back. “Try it now.”

Well sir, I took that guitar and out flowed the purtiest melody you’d ever hope to hear. “Thanks, stranger. That’s amazing! What can I do for you?”

The stranger smiled and said, “Thought you’d never ask. The name’s Bill Hunt, friend. I’ve got a website and I’d be much obliged if you could dedicate a month of your time each year to a celebration of horror, evil and the dark arts. Watch movies and write about ‘em. I’ll need a review a day every October.”

And so, a bargain was struck. Every October, my hands forget how to play that guitar and are only good for typing up reviews of the scariest movies known to man. Come November, I’ll be back to singing the blues. But this month, welcome once again to Dr. Jahnke’s House of Horrors, otherwise known as…

Each weekday throughout the month, I'll review another new, classic, worthy or at least interesting horror title for you. So click on the links below to read 'em... if you dare...

Earlier this year, when Shout! Factory announced the launch of a new line of horror Blu-rays and DVDs called (what else?) Scream Factory, that loud thud you heard was horror fans everywhere collectively dropping to their knees to give thanks. Shout! Factory has deservedly earned a reputation for high quality catalog titles with their impressive Roger Corman’s Cult Classics line, music releases, and television series. So even though this year’s Hell Plaza Oktoberfest is still a few weeks away, I thought we should get a jump on the season by taking a look at Scream Factory’s highly anticipated inaugural releases. Rest assured, horror fans were fully justified in their excitement. If you love the genre, don’t hesitate in adding these discs to your collection.

I don’t cover or even attend very many press events. For one thing, I’m not a journalist and have never pretended to be one. I write opinion pieces, whether they’re reviews or columns or what have you. I’m more than happy to leave the reportage to people who know what they’re doing.

For another, most press events are a bit of a drag. Nobody complains about it much because, let’s face it, there are far worse things to do. But usually you just sit in an auditorium, hear a presentation, get in a brief Q&A and then maybe have coffee. Most press events are about as exciting as your freshman orientation.

But when I got the chance last month to attend the Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures Blu-ray press day up at Skywalker Ranch…well, I’d have to have been some kind of idiot to pass up that opportunity.

We headed out to the ranch bright and early. Well, maybe not bright, exactly. This was San Francisco, after all, so the morning was grey, foggy and downright chilly. But by the time we made it to Skywalker Ranch, some thirty miles outside the city, the sky was a clear blue and the sun was shining bright.

Our first stop was the TechnicalBuilding, an appropriate location for a presentation by two legendary craftsmen. Visual effects artist Dennis Muren and sound designer Ben Burtt have both been indispensable parts of Lucasfilm since the original Star Wars. They are true pioneers in their fields with an armoire full of Oscars and other awards between them to prove it.

Muren reflected fondly on the franchise, graciously acknowledging Harrison Ford as the element that really makes the movies work with the visual effects taking a backseat to his iconic performance. Muren has a brief cameo in Raiders. He’s the shadowy character on the plane who lowers an issue of Life magazine to keep tabs on Indy. As Muren said, “That's the weirdest experience, going from behind the scenes to being in front of the camera with Spielberg looking at you here and Harrison over there. It's like, ‘What the heck am I doing here?’”

When Raiders was being filmed, the TechBuilding hadn’t been built. So it was a bit of a thrill when Burtt revealed that many of the sound effects for the film, including gun shots, whip cracks and rock slides, were recorded right on the very spot we were now sitting. The mine car chase from Temple of Doom? Those clattering tracks you hear were recorded at Disneyland’s SpaceMountain after the park was closed. In other words, Ben Burtt confirmed that he does indeed have the coolest job in the world.

After the presentation, we were brought over to the Lucasfilm Archives, which doesn’t look like much from the outside but essentially houses your childhood and mine. An array of props and costume pieces from all four Indy movies were on display. Everything from the actual Ark of the Covenant to the Crystal Skull was right there. It was more than a little breathtaking to see all this material gathered in one place.

But if I could choose just one of those pieces to have for myself, strangely enough it wouldn’t be the Ark or the idol from the opening sequence of Raiders. It wouldn’t be the Holy Grail or even Indy’s whip. It’d be the crate with the Nazi emblem that the Ark begins to burn through in Raiders. Don’t ask me why since I could probably just make one myself if I really wanted to. But for some reason, that piece of wood thrilled me more than anything else in the room. For lack of a better word, it made it real.

Skywalker Ranch could be a vineyard and it’d still be a magnificently beautiful area to visit. In fact, part of it is a vineyard. But the magic and memories that are everywhere you turn make it a very special place to movie lovers. It was a journey I’ll treasure for a long, long time.

- Your pal, Dr. Adam Jahnke

Here's a gallery of pictures from the event, and you can pre-order the Indiana Jones Blu-ray set below by clicking on the cover art:

When you think of the films of Richard Donner, you likely think of big-budget action-adventures like The Goonies or the Lethal Weapon series. But back in 1980, Donner followed up Superman with Inside Moves, a quiet, low-key drama more in keeping with the films of Hal Ashby than Dick Donner. Despite a cult following and winning an Academy Award nomination for supporting actress Diana Scarwid, it's never been released on DVD. That is, until now.

After his release from the hospital, Roary starts hanging out at Max's Bar, a favorite spot of other physically handicapped characters including paraplegic Blue Lewis (Bill Henderson), blind Stinky (Bert Remsen) and Wings, whose hands have been replaced with prosthetic hooks (played by Harold Russell, making his first screen appearance since The Best Years of Our Lives back in 1946). Roary becomes best friends with Jerry the bartender (David Morse in his first film), whose dreams of playing pro basketball have been thwarted thanks to a leg injury that requires an expensive operation. Roary's new relationships help set him on the road to recovery but when he helps Jerry get his operation, his closest friendship is put to the test.

Inside Moves is an intimate character study with uniformly strong performances by the entire cast. Savage is particularly good and the movie's release on DVD is a welcome reminder that this terrific actor should be used a lot more frequently than he currently is. The movie has a number of individual moments that resonate with emotion and power, including a warm Christmas party sequence at the bar filled with heart and a real sense of community. Depending on how much you personally identify with these damaged characters, these moments may be enough to transform Inside Moves into a great little movie. They weren't quite enough for me although there is a lot to recommend. Although it's very much a character piece, we aren't always given enough information about these people's histories to make everything ring true. In its own way, Inside Moves requires a fair amount of willing suspension of disbelief. If you can do that, the movie is an affectionate, even inspiring piece of work.

Finally available on DVD, Inside Moves looks and sounds older than it actually is. Bear in mind however, this was a low-budget, independently produced picture made almost thirty years ago. I believe Lionsgate did the best possible job they could given the materials they had to work with. The disc also includes a handful of well-done bonus features. The featurette From the Inside Out focuses primarily on Todd Walton's novel and includes interviews with the novelist and Richard Donner on the book's journey to the screen. Donner also provides a commentary along with Brian Helgeland. Helgeland would later work with Donner on Assassins and Conspiracy Theory and here serves as interviewer. It's a reasonably good track with virtually no overlap between it and the documentary and very little dead air. Finally, the disc provides a PDF copy of Donner's shooting script (written by Valerie Curtin and Barry Levinson).

While Inside Moves isn't the long-lost classic I might have wished for, Lionsgate deserves thanks for bringing this unfairly neglected movie to DVD. At the very least, it's a fascinating footnote in the career of Richard Donner. At best, it's a showcase for some fine ensemble acting and might just represent a road not taken for the director who made you believe a man could fly.

Film Rating: B-Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras): B-/C/B+

- Dr. Adam Jahnke

[Editor's Note: This review can also be found in our regular Review Database here.]